What we don’t often talk about in UK Philanthropy
We talk a lot about power when we talk about participatory grant-making. Participatory grant-making is often held up as an equitable approach to philanthropy, enabling us to devolve funding decisions to communities. However, for this to be the case we need to recognise that it is still often used within an unjust system and it can’t be the sole fix to that.
It is important to recognise that there remains a power imbalance between funders, grant holders and applicants. We can do all we can to try and reduce this but until, wealth is totally redistributed to communities, it will never go away. I think it’s disingenuous not to name the fact that ultimately one body holds the money, whilst the other must ask for it and (in the current system) there is not enough to go around. So, some people will (always) be disappointed. I think it’s also important to note that more often than not, this wealth we have been redistributing has been acquired through the exploitation of the working class, through Colonisation and slavery, and through morally dubious investment activities.
In the USA, people are actively challenging the need for more transparency and accountability of foundations, particularly with the publishing of Edgar Villanueva’s Decolonising Wealth book. We in the UK don’t really acknowledge the role we played in, and negative impacts of, colonisation and slavery, meaning the conversation here do not have the same prevalence. This driver to embed participatory approaches is therefore not as pressing in the UK as across the pond. However, conversations around diversity of foundations, charities and their boards are gaining traction (for example, #CharitySoWhite), driving various initiatives to explore ways of being more inclusive, equitable and diverse including the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coalition http://www.blcf.org.uk/about-us/dei/ Participatory grant making provides us with approaches that can help us to start to re-address these imbalances. It can particularly help us make sure that it isn’t always the same people being disappointed and that money is moved towards those who are closer to communities and who would most often be locked out of opportunities to receive funding. It enables us to improve funding decisions and support more effective solutions developed with the insight and knowledge of those closest to the issue. It’s not a perfect solution in relation to the magnitude of problems it is trying to address, but it is a step in the right direction.
For a lot of people, participatory grant-making is a tool that devolves power back out to communities while undoing some of the harm perpetrated in the past. I think it is a fundamental tool in our challenge to redistribute wealth but it’s important to realise that it is just that, a tool. Power dynamics are complex and nuanced and participatory grant making, although a start is not the beginning and end of the work foundations should be doing in this space. We need to proactively explore the way that power structures play out in our day to day lives. We need to spend time self-reflecting and unlearning some of the harmful approaches we have fallen into. We need to explore various aspects of our work, from recruitment and retention, to culture and training — recognising, naming and acting on where we go wrong and what we could do better. For these reasons, it’s important that participatory grant-making isn’t a lone buzz word but is a values-based approach used in conjunction with a whole host of other strategies seeking to create change, not just within communities but across philanthropy as a whole.
The North Star Fund is an interesting example where conversations around the history of wealth and class inequality are embedded into their approach. Through their giving project they bring together 22 people from different race and class backgrounds and spend six months working and (un)learning together. They spend time talking about how different communities and individuals talk about money depending on their backgrounds and relationship with it, as well as breaking down the systems that cause wealth inequality. This changes the conversations as it provides context, moving people from an individualistic approach to an understanding of systematic contexts people live in and battle with. This enables people to unpick and question what it is that has gotten them to where they are now; what role the system, luck and hard work play. With this basis the training then goes on to explore effective organising and fundraising and challenges the group to move out of their comfort zones to speak to their networks to fundraise. Collectively, with the knowledge and leadership skills they have developed they decide where this money should go. You can find out more about their approach here: https://northstarfund.org/get-involved/join-people-power-giving-project/.
